The city finance committee Wednesday gave a positive recommendation for a $3,000-per-month lease of a temporary compressed natural gas fueling station on wheels to be stationed at the River Valley Transit garage, 1500 W. Third St.
The full body of council will vote on the measure tonight.
William E. Nichols Jr., general manager of River Valley Transit, the city's bus service, said the leased equipment from Mansfield Gas Equipment Systems of Ontario, Calif. should be ready by Oct. 1 to fuel fleet vehicles, such as a bus that has been ordered.
The proposed slow-fill station will take about six to eight hours to fuel a bus, Nichols said. The bus would run for two days and on the third day get a fill up, he said.
The system is for fleet vehicles, such as the 15-passenger van at the Genetti Hotel. Nichols said he considered the arrival of the RVT bus and temporary fueling station to be transitional time in the city's mode and method of transportation.
The city plans to order four buses that run on the alternative fuel source and the full conversion of the fleet is expected to save $500,000 annually in fuel costs, he said.
